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Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Succubus by Jennifer Scelsi

In medieval legend, a 'succubus' (plural succubi; from Latin succubare,
"to lie under") is a female demon which comes to men,
especially monks, in their dreams to seduce them and have sexual
intercourse with them, drawing energy from the men to sustain
themselves, often until the point of exhaustion or death.
This legend was an explanation for the phenomena of wet dreams
and sleep paralysis. Lilith and the Lilin ( Jewish), Belili (
Sumerian) and Rusalka ( Slavic) were succubi.

Incubus and Succubus:
In medieval lore, a succubus was a female spirit that would lay
with men to steal their seed: it was given as an explanation
of night arrousal and wet dreams. It was also paired with
the incubus, the male form, sometimes transforming between the
two forms to pass along the stolen seed to unknowing women. In
later stories, especially in contemporary horror writing, both
would be given hypnotic powers that would give them the ability
to command and compell members of the opposite sex

A
lewd female demon or goblin which takes on the illusory
appearance of a female human being and seeks sexual intercourse
with men, usually while they are asleep.

The
princess of all the succubi (plural) is Nahemah. Its male
counterpart is called Incubus. A semi-human offspring is called Cambion.

According to the view of most
medieval theologians, incubi outnumbered succubi by nine to one,
but the ladies made up in menace for what they lacked in
numbers by being alluring and persuasive, using their
considerable charms to seduce men and lead them to eternal
damnation.

The succubus is a demon from
legend that supposedly preys on mortal men while he sleeps; a
sexual vampire of sorts. The actual name has its origins from
late Latin- succuba meaning prostitute, which in turn comes from medieval Latin sub cubaire
meaning 'that which lies beneath'. The male version is the
incubus (from Latin- 'that which lies above'). There are
some sources who claim that the succubus and the incubus are one
and the same creature who can change form at will to prey on
mortals.

In medieval times, the succubus was seen as a
fearsome creature who killed her victims by drinking their
breath. This is interesting in that, at the time, the breath was
seen as a part of the person's spirit, and in doing so, the
succubus was thought to be stealing the victim's soul. Later,
the habits of the succubus were deemed to of a more sexual than
vampiric nature, and this notion probably arose from the change
in social climate that saw sexual deviancy as a mortal sin, and
so, those who committed such a sin against God, were deserving
of their fate in some way.